1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to breakaway devices and more specifically it relates to a resettable breakaway system which is easily reset by a user without utilizing inefficient shear pins or spring loaded tension elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are numerous breakaway devices. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,957 and Canadian Patent 1,202,529 are illustrative of such prior art. Such prior utilize either a shear bolt or a spring loaded tension element. These inventions are expensive to construct and are inconvenient to reset.
While these devices may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not as suitable for providing a reliable resettable breakaway device which is easily resettable by a user. Shear pin devices require the user to maintain a supply of shear pins with them at all times or the user will have to terminate working in the field to locate a shear pin once the shear pin has been broken. Further, the shear pin devices are not adjustable depending upon the type of arm being protected. Also it is difficult to determine how much force will be required to breakaway a particular shear pin inserted or common bolts may be inserted which have differing breakaway characteristics. The spring loaded tension elements provide increasing tension on the arm when encountering an object in a field, thereby not allowing the arm to freely breakaway from the object. This can lead to the arm becoming entangled with the object thereby damaging the arm if the user does not visually detect the problem.
In these respects, the breakaway system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing a breakaway device which is easily reset by a user and which does not utilize shear pins and spring loaded tension elements which have been proven to be unreliable in protecting the arm of an implement or field marker.